–not your momma's goulash–

Black Alice Top

Juuuuust kidding… We are moving across town into a bigger house, closer to my parents and my sis. Very excited! There is a nice big random room off of the master bedroom that will become my sewing room. High-fives! Currently, that room boasts a large heart-shaped Jacuzzi tub in one corner. Believe me, it will be the first thing to go- I don’t care what my kids say. Lord knows what kind of parties happened in that thing.

The new yard has a great large fenced off area with a small barn. I’m not sure we are farm animal people, but I did text my husband some of these pictures as soon as our offer was accepted. If he knew how to use emojis, I’m pretty sure he would’ve responded with the angry orange face, followed up with the happy turd face.

I dunno, maybe we’ll just start with a bunny.

The first thing I did when I found out that we got the house, was to start packing up my fabric. Because, I will not be able to complete all of the projects I must do at our current house before we sell it if there is fabric staring at me.

I organized all of my sewing patterns as well, but kept my Tessuti Alice pattern out just in case I had a little time to sew it- I have wanted to make this one all Summer! I snuck in some time this week to get it done.

I had a terrible time deciding on fabric for this one. Which is probably why the pattern sat there for months. I pulled out this double gauze last minute and just got working. It was a spontaneous move, but I’m pretty happy with it.

(Coco thought it was sooo funny that Mommy’s new shirt is named Alice- just like her favorite baby doll!)

I made a medium and there is a bit of wiggle room in the chest area- but it’s easily the most comfortable thing I’ve ever made myself! It does dip a little lower at the arm pits than I’d like (see below), but it’s not horrible. Though, if you are shorter than me (5’11”)- and 90% of you probably are, just keep that in mind.

Usually with PDF’s, I find that cutting between the M and L lines works for me. I also always add length(I added about an inch to the bottom pieces here). I did a lot of research on this pattern, and found that most people found that sizing down was a great decision. I second that.

One review that really helped me was Mie’s. She has lots of great tips, including a little underarm adjustment that make the sleeve piece less “wingy”, that I may try on my next one.

The only change I made to this, was removing 3-4″ of the width on the back bottom piece. I remember when making my Voila tops, that the back and front shirt pieces were cut from the same pattern piece. I love my Voilas, but I don’t love that there is the same amount of swingy fabric at the back as there is at the front. I think it worked well here.

After I finished sewing this, I popped it into the dryer with a bunch of wet clothes. It came out covered in white fuzzies! Whoops. My lint brush is MIA, so I had tried taking it off with some painters tape wrapped around my hand. It didn’t work so well…

#blackshirtproblems

Also, I did not finish any of my seams on the serger because my Mom often has her serger set up with black thread- and I really didn’t want to take the time to change all 4 spools on mine! I will have to wear this to her house soon and fix it up. 😉

All in all, I am happy with my Alice. Hell, I might even name my first Pygmy goat Alice. Alice all the things!

My tall sista! Yeah, I hated being tall as a kid- mostly because all of my buddies were the shorties. But, now I don’t mind at all. Plus, I like helping the old people at the grocery store getting things off the top shelf. 😉

Erin! i think spontaneity is equal to fun and nice finalized projects. I couldn’t stop laughing about the animal parties in the hot tub. I’m glad you are going to have a nice space for the sewing! I love this top on you! really suits your shape, also the double gauze was a great option -i think for what i can see- . I’m not sure if my “bingo wings will let me use an Alice, but i’m very tempted after see your one and Mie’s, let’s see if i’m brave enough!

Lovely top! I love the Alice pattern. I looked at reviews also and saw it runs a bit large so I made a smaller size. Interesting about the armholes. I did notice they are a bit longer but work fine for me. Btw, the dress pattern has the front wider and the back narrower. I did find it interesting the top was the same for both.

Hello, gorgeous! Love the top! I don’t like the width on one of my patterns, too, I’ll have to play around with taking out some width. That sounds scary to me for some reason. This is one of those sewn garments that you’ll get a TON of wear out of, it’s perfect!! You’re so cool. But you’d be way cooler with goats.

I have been eyeing this pattern up for ages, it’s lovely! Your version is gorgeous and I bet the double gauze is lovely to wear in the summer. It’s funny one of the things I liked about this pattern was that it looked a bit lower under the arms. Good luck with the move, your new sewing room sounds fab, well asides from the heart-shaped jacuzzi that is!

I remember reading this back then! I will do the tips you listed, especially the back piece narrowing! Did you just buy the PDF? I’m kinda anti-PDF’s right now😏 I suck at printing/taping! But I think she’s in Australia so better to print then ship! Xo